Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Tasty Tuesdays: Easy Valentine's Day Cake

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day here at MBP, which means that we're starting to break out some cute decor and featuring some fun gift ideas, as well. One of the things my son and I love to do together, is cook and bake. At just three years old, B is proving to be quite the helpful little chef, and the time spent together in the kitchen is time that I cherish.

B has been asking me to make some cake for a couple of weeks. We're just coming off the tails of some birthdays, and my mom's birthday is tomorrow, so we've been having a lot of cake lately. I did promise B a cake, though, so I thought we'd whip up a quick and easy cake at home to enjoy, with a Valentine theme.

Mommy and B, in the kitchen and ready to bake a cake!

So, I definitely am not the baker of the family. My mother in law makes the best cakes from scratch you could ever imagine. I don't have any of her cake recipes, though, and the only cake I make from scratch tend to have apples or other fruits in them, which my hubby won't eat, so it's pointless to make those.

B, seriously telling me that we need water, eggs and oil from the cake box.

We cheated and used a boxed cake mix and a tub of frosting. Hubby even let B pick out which one he wanted at the store.

Mixing the water into the bowl...

...and the eggs and the oil...

Getting the lumps out and sneaking a taste of batter when he thought mommy wasn't looking.

I was quite impressed with how well B did as we mixed. I thought about getting out the handheld mixer, but I know it's more fun for him to use the spoon. He mixed the heck out of that batter, and together, we got all of the lumps out. I told him to count to 100 with me as we mixed, so it was a great way for us to practice counting.

Drops of red food coloring added to the batter...

To make this a Valentine cake, I told B we were going to do something super cool. I added a few drops of red food coloring to the batter, already in the cake pans. Next, I took a butter knife and asked B to help me hold it. We gently swirled the batter until it was marbled with the red coloring.

So, the batter looked all pretty, like this, before going into the oven.

We baked our cakes at 350 degrees for 28 minutes, and they came out looking like this.

I really wanted to make a heart shaped cake, and I could have used a round and square pan to make the shape of a heart. My square pan was dirty, though, and I just didn't want to clean it, so I improvised, instead. I iced the cake and then used the sprinkles to make a heart on the top, and then added sprinkles on the side of the cake, as well.

All in all, I thought the cake turned out well, and I was pleased with my idea to let the sprinkles free fall from my hand, into the shape of a heart on top of the cake. It's sort of a miracle that the shape turned out the right way. B loved seeing the heart on top of the cake, and loved the way it tasted, even more. We each enjoyed a small piece of cake and it was oh, so yummy!